1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to horticulture and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for amending soil beds by delivering materials thereinto for improving hydration, germination, growth, pest resistance, and disease resistance of seeds and plants.
2. The Background Art
Different types of soils perform their functions differently. In particular, rocky soils, sandy soils and the like tend to pass water too freely. Likewise clay soils tend to hold water, but yet not permit the water to distribute therethroughout. Typically, organic soils having substantial amounts of loam formed by organic matter such as leaves, other foliage, decaying plant matter, and the like provide better absorption and holding of water.
In general, soil may be improved on a small scale by addition of organic matter such as peat moss. On a large scale, soils are typically improved by growing and plowing under certain plants selected for their addition of organic matter. Likewise, waste materials from corrals, grain stalks (straw) and the like may be plowed into tracts of land in order to improve their organic content and their capacity to hold water for use by plants.
Gelatin is a naturally occurring polymer. Gelatin binds with water to form a “gel.” The existence of naturally occurring polymers such as gelatin has been augmented by the development of synthetic polymers. One such polymer is polyacrylamide. Polyacrylamide (PAM) and other similar gels have been used for different types of binding processes. For example, a gel, when wet, may be easily formed, and when dry may become something of a glue or binder. Likewise, gels typically are formed of long polymers and thus are often durable in the face of erosive actions such as water running over them. Accordingly, gels such as PAM have been used to treat surfaces of ground in order to minimize erosion by the passing of water thereover.
Horticulture is the culture of plants. Plants rely on water as a transport mechanism in order to draw nutrients from the ground into the plants through the roots and into the stems, leaves, and so forth. Likewise, water acts as a transpiration cooling mechanism by evaporation out through the leaves and other foliage of a plant.
Thus, the health of plants depends upon access to water, nutrients, protective chemicals such as pesticides and protectants (pathogencides). Many parts of the United States, and even indoor plant locations such as malls, homes, offices, and the like receive little or no rainfall. Irrigation or periodic watering by some mechanism is often required. In such situations, plants may dwell for an extended period without additional water. Organic soils improve the water holding capacity around such plants. Nevertheless, evaporation and periodic watering may still combine to put stress on plants. Moreover, horticulture and agriculture on any large scale may have similar problems inhibiting germination, growth, or thriving of seeds and plants.
It would be an advance in the art to provide a mechanism whereby to automatically deliver and store within a soil, such as near a seed or plant root, a mechanism to absorb, carry, hold, and deliver water, nutrients (fertilizers), protectants (pathogencides), and other soil amendments. It would be an advance to release these materials in a region of greatest utility and over time while resisting loss, evaporation, migration away, and the like. Other applications have needs as well.
Seeding, or sowing seed, may be done by hand or by machine. Typically, seed may be dropped from a drop spreader or actually placed underground a selected distance by a grain drill. Seed may be broadcast through the air to land on the surface of the ground.
Some seed has a comparatively larger granular size, some smaller. Some seed may have a comparatively greater density (mass per unit volume), specific weight (weight per unit volume), or specific gravity (density compared to that of water). Others may have comparatively lesser values of such. As one of such measurements goes, so go all the others, so the term density will be used herein to represent the performance for all the above.
Seeds of comparatively smaller sizes and lower densities tend to drift with the air more easily, rather than passing through it. Likewise, such are more likely to float or drift with water from rainfall or irrigation, for the same reason. The transfer of momentum from passing fluids (air, water) to the seed tends to drag the seed with the fluid. Thus, air and water can interfere with feed, flow, distribution, permanence, and settling into the soil. Smaller and lighter seeds will tend to clog in conduits, move poorly through the air when broadcast or dropped, float away with rain or other water sources, and not sink down into moist or fully hydrated (muddy) soil readily.
Meanwhile, watering schedules, rain, sunshine, and other weather, with their consequent soil moisture, soil warmth, light, and air temperature may vary greatly over any period of days during a planting season. Likewise, soils and seeds may vary so dramatically, that any or all the foregoing conditions may produce very different results for various types of seeds placed on or in varying soils.
It would be an advance in the art to provide a process or method of delivering soil amendments into soils, near seeds or roots to be most effective. It would be a further advance to use seeds themselves as a delivery vehicle, such as by temporarily coating a supply of seed to make distribution more consistent, concentrated, and controlled over greater distances and areas. Such amendments may improve settling into the soil, resist carriage away with water or wind, improve germination, water retention, and growth, and even optionally resist disease (e.g., by pathogens such as microbes, bacteria, viruses, etc.), pests, and the like. Amendments that may separate from their delivery vehicle (substrate, particle, seed, etc.) may still release chemical constituents over time very near the carrier substrate (e.g., sand, seed) or its resulting root to be especially efficient and effective by such targeting.